2000 Fake Note Enters In India From Pakistan

It took barely three months since the demonetization was announced for all those Pakistan based counterfeits to come out with fake currency of 2000 rupee notes in India. These notes were pushed in India by smugglers through india Bangladesh border. As National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Border security Force (BSF) recently seizures and arrest people with fake currency from border area near Bangladesh and from West bengal.

The latest seizures were made in Murshidabad on 8 February, Azizur Rahman a 26 year-old boy who hails from Malda in West Bengal carrying 40 fake notes of 2000 denomination. Police arrested that boy and on investigation they found that all these fake notes had been printed in Pakistan with the help of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and had been smuggled across the border in India from Bangladesh border area. As per the records, sources said smugglers were required to pay Rs. 400 to 600 genuine currency note for each one fake note of Rs 2000 and their rate also depend upon the quality of notes.

According to sources, in the investigators and expert study of seized notes they found that at least of 17 security features from New 2000 denomination note were replicated which included the Transparent area, watermark, Ashoka Pillar our national emblem, the letters ” Rs 2000″ on the left side, the guarantee clause with the signature of RBI governor and denomination number in Devanagari on the front all these security features is replicated as original note which can’t be distinguished easily.

Source said the Motif of Chandrayaan , the Swachh Bharat logo and the year of printing had also been copied on the reverse side of note. Although the print and the paper quality of seized counterfeits were poor but they resembled with genuine note. Officials said that besides all these feature seized notes had the watermark and the crackling sound similar to genuine currency.

Senior official linked to the probe said “The quality has improved from last time and is difficult to detect a fake note with naked eye now. Last month the Fake Indian currency Note ( FICN) smugglers pushed some samples notes of new 2000 and 500 denomination in small number to check their feasibility for circulation. We wear that they will circulate in market very soon.” Sources said the very first attempt to smuggle fake currency was made in last week of December in 2016 when samples from across the border were sent for approval in Malda.

The first seizures of such notes were recorded on January 22 and on February 4, when Piyarul Sheikh of 16 years and Digamber Mondol of 42 years both from Kaliachak in Malda, were arrested by the local police and NIA.

According to securities printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), officials the newly introduced notes had no additional security features and were similar to those of old 1000 rupee and 500 rupees notes.

It is a mammoth exercise and needs several rounds of consultation before the new security features were added. there was no time to introduce additional security features in the remonetised currency of 2000 and 500 denomination as the decision was taken only five months ago last year. The last time security features were upgraded was in 2005 , an official from SPMCIL said, on the condition of anonymity.

On November 8 2016, prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the move to scrap 1000 and 500 rupees notes to flush out this high denomination fake currency that all mostly printed in Pakistan and circulated in India to destabilize the economy of country. In January the government has cited intelligence agencies reports to say that the two main printing presses engaged in printing counterfeit Indian Currency in Pakistan had been forced to shut. According to the study conducted by Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata the value of FICN in circulation was pegged at 400 core.